Daredevil Season 3, Episode 4: "Blindsided"Review

Warning: The following contains spoilers for Daredevil Season 3, Episode 4. If you need a refresher on where we left off, check out our review of Season 3, episode 3.

"For a blind man, you have very impressive reflexes."

There it is, folks!

Wilson Fisk, criminal mastermind... at large?

What's he doing? Who the hell knows? He's doing something, that much we know. Something that has to do with the Albanians, the building he's staying in, and an offshore bank called Red Lion. This whole time, he's skirted the FBI asset freeze by hiding millions in shell corporations and now he's hatching some unknown scheme. A scheme that feels way more dastardly than him just making a run for it so he can escape the U.S. to be with Vanessa.

And how, with all the FB-eyes on him, is Fisk able to sit at a computer, control the prison's security camera feed, and make a phone call to Matt? When is this window happening? The easy answer would be that it's on Dex's watch since Dex is the unbalanced killer, but that doesn't feel quite right. Fisk is trying to slowly recruit Dex. No, there has to be someone else in on it.

Could it be Nadeem? That's certainly possible. Maybe he got an actual money offer from the Albanians to set Fisk up for an ambush? He's the only one aside from Dex and Fisk to make it through the effed up transport mission intact. I guess we'd have to take a closer look at all his scenes to see if they can also properly coexist with him being a traitor? The Nadeem scenes here, especially the one with his boss, feel like filler that would be cut from a reasonably-paced TV series. For Netflix though, this is standard operating procedure.

Daredevil Season 3 Photos

10+ IMAGES

Fullscreen Image

Artboard 3 Copy

Artboard 3

ESC

01 OF 16

Marvel's Daredevil Season 3 Photos
Click through to see Matt wearing his old costume.

01 OF 16

Marvel's Daredevil Season 3 Photos
Click through to see Matt wearing his old costume.

Daredevil Season 3 Photos

Download Image

Captions

ESC

Now, let's dig into that freakin' prison fight!

This is the real headliner here. Daredevil's first season wowed us all with that one-shot hallway fight. Then Season 2 outdid the first hallway battle with an awesome Dogs of Hell hallway fight and a Frank Castle hallway fight (which was Frank straight murdering a bunch of inmates in prison). The Defenders had a lot to live up to, hallway-wise (and elsewhere), and it fell short. Somehow the sight of all four Defenders beating people up for the first time, in a hallway, just didn't cut it. Also, for the first time, with regards to The Defenders, a Daredevil story didn't blow us away with its action scenes.

Now we're back in business. And this time, here in the very intense and revealing Episode 4, we get a ten minute one-shot that starts in a hallway, goes back into the nurse's station, and then extends into the rest of the prison as a riot starts up (complete with fire, smoke, prisoners shanking guards, what have you)! It isn't wall-to-wall action, but it's always exciting. In a way, the fact that there is a lengthy dialogue scene between Matt and Albanian prison boss Vic (James Biberi) in the middle, helps this segment feel even more impressive.

So not only is this an expertly-crafted brawl but its mid-point contains important information about Fisk and how he tricked the FBI into releasing him from prison. Then, it's back out into the madhouse, where a beaten and drugged Matt has to scramble through inmates, crooked guards, and crazy chaos. This whole sequence drops on our heads like a hammer, all at once confirming the totality of Fisk's control. Sure, you could argue that Fisk maybe only has control over certain aspects of the prison, but that feels naive. It stands to reason that he's manipulating things on levels the show hasn't disclosed to us yet. He's even able to swap out the cab driver for one of his thugs at the end, resulting in Matt plummeting into the river (a famous moment from Frank Miller's Born Again saga, BTW).

Exit Theatre Mode

This is just a superbly delivered slice of action that also contains crucial plot movement. On top of that, it basically confirms for Fisk that Matt is the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. Him being able to witness Matt in action, thwarting that syringe attack (well, mostly) gives Fisk some new intelligence he probably wasn't expecting. In fact, was Fisk even expecting Matt or was he truly trying to take out Foggy, since that's who he might have thought was in that room before he switched the camera on? Regardless, it's Matt who Fisk has a more direct beef with. Yes, Matt messed up big time back in Season 2 when he so flippantly made those remarks about Vanessa. So either way, whether Fisk knew he was getting Matt or it was just a surprise, Fisk couldn't have anticipated that either of them would head to the prison to check up on the Albanians... Could he?

As it stands, it's just a really cool villain moment for Fisk. We've seen him be vulnerable for three episodes so it's awesome to now have our heroes' hunches validated. Something's not right, and now Foggy and Karen are actively trying to stop what feels like a runaway train. Foggy's got some harebrained scheme about running for D.A. (or at least just making a public spectacle of himself) while Karen - who now finally knows Matt is alive - is trying to follow the money - all while being supremely pissed about everything because "there's always something missing with Matt."

Here's hoping the reveals keep coming as fast as they did in this episode. If handled incorrectly, both Foggy and Karen's paths could get twisted and bogged down in an attempt to spread the story thin and that's not what this season needs. Season 2 of Daredevil was a rare example of a Marvel/Netflix show side-stepping the midseason slouch by breaking everything up into smaller arcs (Punisher, Elektra, Trial of Punisher, The Hand) so hopefully things don't start to drag. Already, it's obvious that it's going to take a while for Fisk to twist and transform Dex into the asset he needs. Fisk's begun the mind games, so we'll have to see just how malleable Agent Poindexter is.

The Verdict

There are some signs of bloat here (Nadeem scenes, Foggy's speech, etc.) but Matt's trip to the prison and the harrowing (and technically impressive) brawl that ensue are some of the series' best moments. It's a much-needed shot of adrenaline that contains gripping action as well as confirmation that Fisk is still the all-knowing/all-witnessing secret schemer that our heroes suspect him of being.